Vocabulary

1. Vocabulary

2. Cite/Site/Sight • Cite – to quote, summon, commend or call. Citethe author in an endnote; • Site – location, area, computer website, or to place something in an areaYou visit a Web siteor the site of the crime. • Sight – the act of seeing, a view, a glimpse/ observation, to look in a direction. You sightyour beloved running toward you in slow motion on the beach (a sight for sore eyes!).

3. Complement/Compliment • compliment: nice things said about someone • "She paid me the compliment of admiring the way I shined my shoes.” • Complement- matching or completing. • Alice’s love for entertaining and Mike’s love for washing dishes complement each other. • the full number of something needed to make it complete: “My computer has a full complement of video-editing programs.” If it is preceded by “full” the word you want is almost certainly “complement.” • Remember, if you’re not making nice to someone, the word is “complement.”

4. Conscience/Conscious • Conscience – inner sense of right and wrong. • Your conscience makes you feel guilty when you do bad things. • Conscious – aware, having mental faculties, known. • If you are awake, you are conscious. • Although it is possible to speak of your “conscious mind,” you can’t use “conscious” all by itself to mean “consciousness.”

5. Council/Counsel • Council– an assembly, a body of people • I checked with the city council. • Counsel– advice, to give advice • I could counsel you not to speak to him anymore.

6. Continually/Continuously • Continuallymeans "repeated again and again." • I was continually interrupted by the telephone. • Continuouslymeans "uninterrupted." • It rained continuously for forty-eight hours.

7. Coarse/Course • Coarseis always an adjective meaning “rough, crude.” • Don’t use that coarse language in here! • Course – N. or v. many meanings! Path, track, procedure, mode of conduct, to hunt or chase, etc. ALSO used in many idioms • Of course, we do charge a fee for that.

8. Disburse/Disperse • Disburse – to distribute, give out • You disburse money by taking it out of your purse (French “bourse”) and distributing it. • Disperse – scatter, drive off, dispell • If you refuse to hand out any money, the eager mob of beggars before you may disperse.

9. Eligible/Illegible • Eligible – available, qualified, fit or proper • He was quite the eligible bachelor. • Illegiblenot readable, impossible to read, bad handwriting. • I cannot take this paper, your writing is illegible!

10. Eminent/Imminent • Eminent - prominent, famous, most important. • The government exercises eminent domain. • Imminent – threatening, facing immediate disaster. From Latin minere, meaning “to project or overhang.” • The cave in was imminent, as was the movie premiere.

11. Ensure/Insure • Ensure-to secure or guarantee: to make sure or certain: measures to ensure the success of an undertaking. to make secure or safe, as from harm • This letter will ensure you a hearing. • Insure – to guarantee against loss or harm, to secure indemnity to or on, in case of loss, damage, or death, to issue or procure an insurance policy on or for. • Check with your agent, they can probably insure you for less.